Homily
Sunday in the Octave of Easter
Divine Mercy Sunday
19 April 2020
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Jesus Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
So what.
Don't worry, I haven't lost my faith one week into Easter. The Resurrection is still the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true. These words are the most mysterious, dramatic, profound and true words that have ever been or could ever be spoken in human history. They change everything about the meaning of life and human destiny. Martyrs are dying for this mystery even today. I professed them with all I had through my baptismal promises on Easter Sunday.
So what.
Jesus Christ is truly Risen!
So what.
That's today's Easter move, and it's a big one. Thomas's skepticism and empiricism pays off in spades. He is the patron saint of today's 'nones' - those who will not be told what they should believe by someone else.
But here's the difference - he is not a lazy none.
No, he's a hero because he doesn't check out. He shows up. And his skepticism is one that not afraid to probe for the truth. As a result, he gets to feel more than the other disciples. He gets to feel the Resurrection - what wounds redeemed by love feel like! Thomas is my hero. He shows me that my Easter faith can come from a deeper place - where I most fear and doubt.
This week's pivotal question is: what do you doubt?
This question is easy peasy today!
I doubt the Resurrection!
Yes, you heard me.
Following, Thomas, I doubt the Resurrection.
For it's precisely because this mystery is the most profound, dramatic and true event in human history that I must explore it, test it, wrestle with it, with all that I have. Thomas keeps digging, literally, where the other disciples stop. I can't stop digging! The Resurrection either becomes more or less true at every turn in my life. It only becomes more true if I'm like Thomas - exploring the places where I am most trapped by doubt and fear TODAY with the Risen Christ. That's Divine Mercy! That's my Easter duty. That's what makes this Easter new!
Doubts and fears are never something to be put away. Jesus says to Thomas - let's engage! They're always going to be there, so let's deal with them. Let's probe and face them - together. The wounds are never removed. They must be redeemed. Again, the wounds, his and mine, are never removed. They are redeemed.
The result if I dare to follow Thomas is an Easter faith that never barely escapes my lips on the outside. It's a faith that wells up from my wounds on the inside.
That's Divine Mercy. John Paul II not only proclaimed this Feast in 2000. In 2005, he showed us exactly how to do it. His open wounds were there for the whole world to see. We watched him suffer - where his doubts and fears were greatest. And he allowed the Risen Christ to fill him and us with Divine Mercy. He died on the eve on this great feast that he gave us. Remarkable.
My friends, the Resurrection is never a magic trick that allows us to pretend to know more than we do or that everything will be ok. It's the central mystery that engages our real lives, moreso every day.
Blessed am I, says Jesus, who get to encounter this Divine Mercy in a mystical and sacramental way, seeing less than Thomas. Yet, he will always be my hero. For because of Him, I know that Jesus wants me to keep digging, so that I never skip His invitation to put my finger in the nailmarks and my hand in his side.
Only then will the truth of Easter come from Divine Mercy, where he has truly healed my wounds.
So that's why today's Easter move is so important.
If I'm going to doubt anything, let me doubt the one thing that most matters.
I don't want my Easter faith to be superficial, passive, boring, innocuous, and nothing new.
Let my Easter faith be something that I have the honesty and guts to doubt.
Jesus Christ is truly Risen!
So what.
Sunday in the Octave of Easter
Divine Mercy Sunday
19 April 2020
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
Jesus Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
So what.
Don't worry, I haven't lost my faith one week into Easter. The Resurrection is still the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true. These words are the most mysterious, dramatic, profound and true words that have ever been or could ever be spoken in human history. They change everything about the meaning of life and human destiny. Martyrs are dying for this mystery even today. I professed them with all I had through my baptismal promises on Easter Sunday.
So what.
Jesus Christ is truly Risen!
So what.
That's today's Easter move, and it's a big one. Thomas's skepticism and empiricism pays off in spades. He is the patron saint of today's 'nones' - those who will not be told what they should believe by someone else.
But here's the difference - he is not a lazy none.
No, he's a hero because he doesn't check out. He shows up. And his skepticism is one that not afraid to probe for the truth. As a result, he gets to feel more than the other disciples. He gets to feel the Resurrection - what wounds redeemed by love feel like! Thomas is my hero. He shows me that my Easter faith can come from a deeper place - where I most fear and doubt.
This week's pivotal question is: what do you doubt?
This question is easy peasy today!
I doubt the Resurrection!
Yes, you heard me.
Following, Thomas, I doubt the Resurrection.
For it's precisely because this mystery is the most profound, dramatic and true event in human history that I must explore it, test it, wrestle with it, with all that I have. Thomas keeps digging, literally, where the other disciples stop. I can't stop digging! The Resurrection either becomes more or less true at every turn in my life. It only becomes more true if I'm like Thomas - exploring the places where I am most trapped by doubt and fear TODAY with the Risen Christ. That's Divine Mercy! That's my Easter duty. That's what makes this Easter new!
Doubts and fears are never something to be put away. Jesus says to Thomas - let's engage! They're always going to be there, so let's deal with them. Let's probe and face them - together. The wounds are never removed. They must be redeemed. Again, the wounds, his and mine, are never removed. They are redeemed.
The result if I dare to follow Thomas is an Easter faith that never barely escapes my lips on the outside. It's a faith that wells up from my wounds on the inside.
That's Divine Mercy. John Paul II not only proclaimed this Feast in 2000. In 2005, he showed us exactly how to do it. His open wounds were there for the whole world to see. We watched him suffer - where his doubts and fears were greatest. And he allowed the Risen Christ to fill him and us with Divine Mercy. He died on the eve on this great feast that he gave us. Remarkable.
My friends, the Resurrection is never a magic trick that allows us to pretend to know more than we do or that everything will be ok. It's the central mystery that engages our real lives, moreso every day.
Blessed am I, says Jesus, who get to encounter this Divine Mercy in a mystical and sacramental way, seeing less than Thomas. Yet, he will always be my hero. For because of Him, I know that Jesus wants me to keep digging, so that I never skip His invitation to put my finger in the nailmarks and my hand in his side.
Only then will the truth of Easter come from Divine Mercy, where he has truly healed my wounds.
So that's why today's Easter move is so important.
If I'm going to doubt anything, let me doubt the one thing that most matters.
I don't want my Easter faith to be superficial, passive, boring, innocuous, and nothing new.
Let my Easter faith be something that I have the honesty and guts to doubt.
Jesus Christ is truly Risen!
So what.
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